6-Pound Bike Just $45,000

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6-Pound Bike Just $45,000

What happens when a bike maker forgets about the UCI rules that govern the weights of competition road bikes? You end up with a machine which weighs just six pounds. That's not a typo: 6-lbs.

Lance Armstrong and the other racers in the Tour de France must have bikes weighing 6.8-kilos, or 15-pounds. This machine, built by Fairwheel Bikes of Tuscon, weighs in at less than half that. And according to the anonymous owner, it is tough enough to ride, having clocked up around 20,000-miles.

To get the weight down, pretty much every part has been tweaked. Almost everything is made from carbon fiber, of course, but here are a few ridiculously small numbers for you. The brakes are AX Lightness (130-145 grams the set, depending on model). The crankset, including bearings, is 281-grams. The AeroLite Lite Pedals weren't Lite enough, so they have been drilled to further reduce weight. And the wheels? According to Rico de Wert, the builder of the cranks, both wheels together weigh just 585-grams. That's 1.29-pounds for the pair.

Velonews spoke to the folks from Fairwheel, who were showing off the machine at this year's Interbike, and you can read the full list of specs over at the site. It really is a crazy-light bike, and it gets me thinking about just how pointless it is, too. While properly inflating your tires won't add a significant amount to the weight, drinking just three liters of water before getting in the saddle would actually add more to your weight than the mass of this entire bike. And imagine how light this thing would be if they took off the gears and made it fixed.

The bike isn't for sale, but if you were to make your own, it would cost you $45,000.